


Coin

by TenSpencerRiedPlease



Series: Toss A Coin to Your Witcher [1]
Category: The Witcher (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bodyguard Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Bodyguard! Geralt, Emotionally Constipated Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Fluff, Humor, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Musician Jaskier | Dandelion, singer! Jaskier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:01:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22626781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenSpencerRiedPlease/pseuds/TenSpencerRiedPlease
Summary: Jaskier looks enthused for someone who nearly got stabbed earlier and Geralt sighs. By now he’s used to Jaskier’s chipper attitude and seemingly endless stream of both energy and optimism but sometimes its still a lot to handle.“You should have seen it, Yennefer. He walks up to the guy, grabs his knife hand and moves it away from me and then bam, head butts him and the guy just falls to the ground, passed right out,” he says excitedly. “This is even better than that time that one fan wouldn’t let go of my sleeve so you just ripped the whole thing off and pulled me away like it was an inconvenience to you to have been bothered by such things.”
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Series: Toss A Coin to Your Witcher [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1635163
Comments: 35
Kudos: 965





	Coin

**Author's Note:**

> Cool, looks like I got into The Witcher, which is weird given that I normally hate high fantasy so heeeeeey!
> 
> Still, here whatever this is!
> 
> Warnings for drug use.

Jaskier looks enthused for someone who nearly got stabbed earlier and Geralt sighs. By now he’s used to Jaskier’s chipper attitude and seemingly endless stream of both energy and optimism but sometimes its still a lot to handle.

“You should have _seen_ it, Yennefer. He walks up to the guy, grabs his knife hand and moves it away from me and then _bam_ , head butts him and the guy just falls to the ground, passed right out,” he says excitedly. “This is even better than that time that one fan wouldn’t let go of my sleeve so you just _ripped_ the whole thing off and pulled me away like it was an inconvenience to you to have been bothered by such things.”

He says that like it _wasn’t_ an inconvenience. Jaskier was already late for his set by more than ten minutes and Yen was on a rampage, he wasn’t testing his luck because some nut case decided Jaskier was public property so he did the easiest thing he could to solve the problem, ripped Jaskier’s sleeve off and pulled him away. He’s sure that fan has his sleeve in a frame somewhere not that he chooses to think about it that much.

Yen doesn’t look impressed and she turns to glare at Geralt like its _his_ fault someone decided to literally take a stab at Jaskier. “If anything happens to him its _your_ life,” Yen tells him, pointing an accusatory finger at him and he sighs.

“I’m fine, really. Geralt is always saving the day, even if its mostly saving me from me but that’s alright because sometimes he picks me up and carries me to bed and I think that’s adorable,” Jaskier says.

Geralt knows that too because sometimes Jaskier pretends to be passed out or too blitzed out on drugs to stand so Geralt will carry him off to bed. He might be a phenomenal singer, not that Geralt will ever tell him that, but he’s an awful actor. He allows it because its easier than the alternative and if he’s put Jaskier in bed he knows he’s there and not running around doing some stupid thing that results in him getting a phone call at ass o’clock in the morning to come save him. It happens at least twice a month, usually more.

Yen rolls her eyes, “just make sure my little money maker doesn’t get _stabbed_. He just started a tour and if I have to cancel dates because some asshole stabbed him there will be _hell_ to pay,” she says, walking out with that.

Jaskier turns and grins at him and he _knows_ he’s got to be on something because usually Yen’s blasé attitude towards his life puts him in a bad mood. He can’t say he blames him given how… _emotional_ Jaskier is, how sensitive. Artist types, he supposes. He’s used to Yen’s harsh attitude and general disinterest in people outside of what they can do for her. Its served her well, exceptionally so regardless of how many people she had to fuck over to get to where she is. But she’s got Jaskier under her management now and his last album was number one in seventeen different countries and it in the top five for a bunch more. To say he’s making Yen money is an understatement, and no one else gets a single dollar without it going through her first and she takes _time_ to vet her teams. And Jaskier usually finds all that exhausting to deal with, so he shouldn’t look so pleased now.

“Geralt, we should go shopping,” he says like Geralt actually does much more than make sure he doesn’t die or get accosted.

“You have a show in five hours, you should get some rest,” he says. Jaskier won’t rest, barely does when he _isn’t_ on something and that suits Yen fine too. The fact that he’s a little fountain of songs for her to pick apart and turn into something sellable means they have whole albums worth of material constantly on the back burner. But Yen is picky about what actually goes on an album and in her defense Jaskier went from relatively unknown two years ago to the most popular singer across both Europe and North America, and he ranges from incredibly popular to mildly popular everywhere else. Clearly her methods work, in her defense.

“No,” Geralt tells him. “Get rest.”

Jaskier sighs, “fine, be like that but I have no time for rest so come on, hang out with me while I draw,” he says, walking off fully expecting Geralt to follow.

He does, obviously, because Jaskier is a danger to himself and Yen has him under strict instruction to ensure he doesn’t die. And he gets a good pay cheque out of it too. Jaskier talks away at a mile a minute the way he always does and Geralt lets him. He’s on about some story he’s made up, the drawings that go with it and he’s seen them before. They’re good, actually, very detailed but Yen has decided the talent is useless so she doesn’t much care for him doing it. She prefers him to write songs, which he also happens to be good at, but Geralt knows he needs relief somewhere so he’s elected to not tell Yen how much time Jaskier spends drawing.

“Geralt, are you listening?” Jaskier asks, looking up from a sketch book he’s got in his lap.

“Hmm,” he says, giving Jaskier all the reassurance he needs to continue on talking. He is listening though, fascinated by how the hell Jaskier can keep everything in his life let alone his little world straight. He’s been with him for almost a year now and sometimes he feels like he has no idea where he is, where he’s going to be next. But Jaskier never has a problem with keeping himself grounded in that way and that way only.

“-And then I _think_ I might make a song to go with it,” he says, holding up a drawing that’s unmistakably him, if in water color and a weird outfit standing in what looks like a lake with some kind of massive spider thing at his feet. He frowns at it, unsure what to make of it.

“Why are my eyes like that?” he asks. They’re all black and it looks creepy.

Jaskier lets out a long sigh, “Because you’re a _Witcher_ , Geralt. Well, also you took this potion to help increase your strength so you could- never mind, it doesn’t matter pay _attention_. I don’t talk for the good of my own health, you know.”

Yes he does but Geralt doesn’t tell him that. “Hmm,” is all he says and Jaskier turns back to his drawing.

“I wish I could turn this into something,” he says, unexpectedly mournful about it. “Do you think you could talk Yennefer into doing something with this?” he asks, eyes wide and hopeful.

His eyebrows draw together, “how the hell would I convince Yen to do something with your drawings?” he asks.

“She _listens_ to you. You’re like, the only one she listens to. Maybe you could convince her… I don’t know, that they have value or something?”

He sounds so sad, forlorn almost and Geralt sighs. “Organize your drawings into something recognizing the actual storyline you’ve invented for them and maybe she’ll see something to it,” he says.

Jaskier looks back down at his drawing of Geralt the Witcher, whatever the hell _that_ is, like he’s had an epiphany and Geralt winces because Yen is never going to go for it.

*

He doesn’t _mean_ to do this to Geralt but he’s always been a little bit of a disaster and try as she might, and she _does_ try considerably hard, Yennefer has never been able to get him to stop being _like_ that. “Geralt,” Jaskier says into the phone, “I think maybe I’ve taken some bad drugs.”

“Fuck,” is all he gets on the other line before it goes dead and Jaskier lets his phone fall from his ear to his lap. The music here is loud, and the colors are bright. People are dancing all around him but he pays them no mind as he waits for Geralt to come get him. By now he’s set up Jaskier’s phone to share his location with Geralt at all times, which makes him easier to find. Jaskier has no idea how he did it and he doesn’t mind that Geralt tracks him all over the place because it _Geralt_. He wouldn’t abuse that information, probably doesn’t even care about it when he’s supposed to have time off. He doesn’t get that much and Jaskier feels bad for him in that way. But Yennefer trusts very few people to keep an eye on him and those people are her and Geralt exclusively so he doesn’t get the benefit of time off unless he’s by Yennefer’s side and that’s not a lot.

It doesn’t take long before he watches the crowd part and Geralt steps through, white hair turning the colors of the lights shining brightly around him. He kneels in front of Jaskier and looks him over quickly, seemingly determining something before he reaches out and plucks his phone off his lap, sticking it in his pocket. He reaches out to Jaskier and he holds his arms out to Geralt immediately, letting Geralt pick him up as he wraps his arms around Geralt’s neck. He carries Jaskier out like he weighs nothing and he happens to know he’s not light even if he’s not exactly heavy either. He smiles because he loves when Geralt does this, just carries him off and usually to bed. Sometimes he fakes being passed out so Geralt will carry him to bed because its nice, being taken care of.

Geralt sets him down outside on the lawn a little out of the way of the partygoers and looks him over again. He lets Geralt fuss with him, unconcerned and awaiting prognosis that doesn’t take long. “Good news, pretty sure you didn’t take bad drugs. You just seem to be having a bad reaction to them,” he tells Jaskier.

He wrinkles his nose, “that’s bad drugs, then, isn’t it?”

“Given that you’re not convulsing, vomiting, or generally about to die no, its not the same thing. Come on, lets get you home,” he says, picking him back up. Jaskier tucks his head into Geralt’s neck and closes his eyes, knowing he’ll end up in bed soon enough so he doesn’t need to worry.

When he wakes up next its to Yennefer yelling in the next room. “I don’t care _what_ he did last night, if his ass isn’t in the car in the next twenty minutes I’m skinning _both_ of you!”

“Yen, when’s the last time I couldn’t get him out of bed?” Geralt says back. He groans, pulling his covers over his head because he doesn’t _want_ to get up.

“Well you best work quick because I am _losing_ my patience,” Yennefer tells him. “Twenty minutes, Geralt.”

Jaskier keeps his covers over his head as he hears Geralt approach his room and he doesn’t move when the door opens. “Jaskier, get up,” Geralt tells him.

Yennefer thinks he does something special to get him out of bed but he doesn’t, mostly he just tells him to get up. Jaskier throws his covers off his head, “can’t I sleep for another hour, I’m sure I’ve got time,” he says.

Something shows on Geralt’s face for a moment, a small clench of his jaw as he looks away. “You have a show in three hours, Jaskier, and you need to be at the venue _now_. So go on, go shower so you can get there.”

He frowns, finding his phone on his nightstand and checking the time. “Oh, I slept all day,” he says, surprised.

“Yes, and you also told Yennefer to fuck off when she tried to wake you up _twice_ earlier. You might want to move quickly,” Geralt tells him.

Well, if he survived telling Yennefer to fuck off twice he figures he’ll be fine if he makes her wait a few more minutes and _where_ did the time go? He sighs, dragging himself out of bed and wrinkling his nose when he catches a whiff of himself. Alright, no skipping the shower today because he is in _desperate_ need.

Geralt watches him stumble on into the bathroom and he catches a glimpse of him walking over to his dresser to pull out some clothes. He smiles as he shuts the door and climbs into the tub, turning on the water and letting it wash over him for a few moments. The door opens softly, closing a few moments later as Geralt presumably drops off some clothes for him quietly. He sighs and scrubs himself down fast before dragging his ass back out of the shower and into his clothes. He can tell Gerlat picked them because they’re so plain compared to what he chooses to wear when he picks things out but that suits him fine. He’ll need to change for the show anyway.

He gets dressed and leaves the bathroom finding Geralt sitting in a chair in the corner of the room reading. He sets the book aside without marking the page and stands, “alright, lets go,” he says, gesturing for Jaskier to leave the room so he does.

“I don’t know how you put up with me,” he says, heaving a sigh out as they leave the hotel room.

“Its not that hard,” Geralt tells him as they wait for the elevator.

“Yennefer makes it seem like I’m the worst thing that’s ever happened to her,” he says. She always seems to be mad at him about something and half the time he doesn’t know what. She’d probably blame the drugs and he can’t say she’s totally wrong on that one.

Geralt sighs, “don’t ever tell Yen I told you this, but once she told me that she resented you because you kind of made her what she is. Its not true, she was plenty successful before you came along, but you did skyrocket her career into places she wouldn’t have gotten to when she did without you. She doesn’t show it, but she cares a lot about you.”

She cares a lot about her career, more like. Its just that she needs him to keep it so by proxy she has to give a shit. “Pretty sure you’re wrong about that,” he mumbles as they step into the elevator. “I guess at least I have fans,” he says. They’re nice, adoring as always, and he loves the sound of thousands of people screaming for _his_ music, always will. Best feeling in the world, that is.

Geralt wrinkles his nose though and he knows he’s not fond of them. Maybe because he has to deal with the overly touchy ones too often, or maybe its something else Jaskier doesn’t know but he does know that Geralt is not fond of his fans. “You have things that are better than that,” Geralt tells him.

“Oh like what? Besides my good looks, obviously.” That he knows about and capitalizes on frequently, _obviously_. He’d be stupid to ignore his pretty face and what it can do for him but besides that he feels he’s lacking in a lot of things, friends being one of them. A life also, and some spare time that isn’t dedicated to song writing.

“Hmm,” is all Geralt gives him and he sighs.

“Fine then, keep your secrets. Just make sure Yennefer doesn’t yell at me,” he says as they walk up to the car.

Geralt opens the door to Yennefer yelling, “you’re _late_!”

“And he’s freshly showered and fully awake, the extra five minutes is worth it. And we’re not far from the venue, hair and makeup won’t be disrupted,” Geralt says.

“Fine. Come on then, lets go,” Yennefer says, losing steam fast because Geralt seems like the only person she actually _likes_.

Jaskier decides not to push his luck though and climbs into the car only to have Yennefer glare at him anyway. “Tell me to fuck off again and I’ll end your career early when I cut your tongue out,” she tells him.

He can’t help the small squeak he lets out as he shifts closer to Geralt and he’s not even sure he could hold Yennefer back if she actually wanted to do it.

“Was that necessary, Yen?” Geralt asks.

She lets out a huff, “he should know any attempts to walk on me _will_ result in consequences. Thank _god_ you got him to shower,” she adds.

“I rather like my tongue,” he says, pressing his hand to his mouth.

“Then you’d do well to never tell me to fuck off again, let alone twice in a row,” she tells him, tone softer this time even if she still looks pissed off about it. Power of Geralt, he supposes. He softens her a little and when Yennefer is so… _sharp_ a little goes a long way.

*

Jaskier knows how to put on a hell of a show. Geralt can’t say he’s fond of the music, Jaskier’s folk meets pop style really isn’t for him, but he is entertaining to watch. Maybe its because of that upbeat personality of his or maybe its all the energy or his ridiculous outfits but watching Jaskier sing is something else. He commands the stage, pulls all the attention in the room towards him and grips everyone until he’s done his song. His voice is nice too, even they lyrics and the sound isn’t something Geralt likes personally. Yen tells him he’s ear blind and she might have a point. He’s never cared for anything that isn’t classical and while the genre has its merits it also doesn’t resemble much popular music.

He’s there when Jaskier gets off stage and tonight was a good night because he looks happy instead of exhausted. “Geralt, we should get ice cream,” he says, grinning wide.

He shakes his head, “you’re going back to your room to rest,” he tells him.

Jaskier lets out a long whine, “Geralt, I wanted to do something fun,” he says, frowning at him in an exaggerated way.

He already regrets his suggestion before he makes it because he _hates_ doing this. “We can watch America’s Next Top Model reruns,” he says because Jaskier loves the show and if he’s watching that with him he doesn’t have to drag him out of a party or a hospital and he’s willing to suffer a little if he doesn’t need to do either of those things.

Thankfully Jaskier takes the bait and drags him back to their hotel while Yen nods in approval. Geralt is convinced this is half why he’s the only one she’s decided is good enough to ensure her cash cow doesn’t break, because he’s weirdly good at this. Everyone else finds Jaskier hard to deal with, he had too when they first started working together, but he’s since figured him out. He’s impulsive and stupid and reckless, but he’s also easily swayed and suggestible so all he needs is a suggestion he thinks he would have come up with himself and there. No issues- Jaskier goes on to do the thing that’s less likely to end up with him deal or mauled by fans and Geralt gets to relax even if its doing something he hates.

Jaskier is curled up on his bed, pressed into Geralt’s side. “Do you think you can convince Yennefer to let me run my own social media? I sound so wooden on Twitter,” he says, scrolling through his Twitter on his phone, the one he doesn’t even have a password to.

“Hmm,” Geralt says. He’ll talk to her but he doubts he’ll get anywhere with it.

“Great, thanks,” Jaskier murmurs, going back to scrolling for approximately five seconds before he talks again. Geralt doesn’t mind that he fills the space anymore, by now he thinks its kind of endearing. “Do you ever miss sleeping beside someone?” he asks.

Geralt snorts, “you sleep beside people all the time.” Too much of the time if Jaskier were to ask Geralt his opinion. It wouldn’t be so bad, he thinks, Jaskier’s _insistence_ on sleeping around,if not for the fact that he’s famous and also insists on sleeping with married people and actual royals. Then it gets messy and Geralt has to go save him again.

“Not people I like,” Jaskier says, pouting at him.

“Stop sleeping with people you don’t like, then,” Geralt says.

Jaskier huffs. “No one even knows me and I’m not sure anyone would try now,” he murmurs.

Not with the fame, he means. Its hard to start with a blank slate when everyone can google your favorite color or that interview you did when you talked about your mom. Not that Jaskier ever mentions his parents but still. Its hard to connect with people when they’ve all already connected with the version of you that someone made to sell and Yen is nothing if not thorough- who Jaskier is in public is very much controlled. Difficult when he insists on running around doing stupid things at parties, but she manages nonetheless.

“I know you,” Geralt says and he doesn’t mean anything by it, not really, not _entirely_ so when Jaskier looks at him like that he’s surprised and confused.

When Jaskier leans up and kisses him he knows its in his best interest not to lean forward, hand curling around Jaskier’s jaw before threading his fingers through his hair but he damn well does it anyway. Jaskier doesn’t seem to regret it much on his end either, allowing Geralt to push him into his back as they both ignore America’s Next Top Model playing in the background. He lets out a soft moan as he curls his arms around Geralt’s neck like he has a million times before. Geralt thinks maybe he should pull away, should put some distance between him and Jaskier because this won’t end well but he doesn’t. He isn’t sure if that makes him selfish or not and Jaskier has his own plans that quickly quash Geralt’s conflicted feelings anyway.

He doesn’t expect Jaskier to curl a leg around his waist and flip them over so he’s perched on Geralt’s hips looking pleased with himself before he goes to lean back in. Geralt takes this as his opportunity and meets Jaskier half way, making the kiss short and chaste as he sits up, wrapping his arms around Jaskier’s waist to keep him from toppling out of his lap. “I don’t want to be another in your long string of one night stands,” he tells Jaskier. He’s surprised with how much he can feel that, how little he wants to be cast aside like everyone else Jaskier sleeps with.

Jaskier softens though. “Geralt, you would be different. You’re already different,” he says.

He clenches his jaw, looking away for a moment before turning back to him. “Maybe we should… see… about this,” he says, wincing as it comes out slow and ill thought out.

“What, sleeping with me now not good enough?” Jaskier says, faking offense.

Geralt sighs. “That’s not is, Jask. I just don’t want to rush into things.” The last thing he needs is another relationship like that- his last string of them all went badly.

Thankfully Jaskier doesn’t react badly to it and grins instead, “Jask?” he asks more than states.

“Hmm,” is all he gets out of Geralt.

*

Jaskier has never really _understood_ the appeal of relationships, why would he? He’s one of the most famous people in the world right now and instead of being tied down he’s free to do whatever and whoever he wants. Its not a bad deal, he’ll be free to admit, but he does like the intimacy Geralt has too. He likes that they sit around and watch reality TV that he knows Geralt hates just for his benefit, he likes that Geralt is always around but rarely intrusive, and he likes that Geralt listens to him. Or he thinks he does, he’s not so sure sometimes.

Which might be why he’s a little upset by the presence of a blonde in Geralt’s room on Geralt’s bed looking quite at home there and he’s not about to cast aspersions but how _old_ is she? Geralt certainly doesn’t seem the type, but he’s met people who didn’t seem the type before- they seem abundant in the entertainment industry. Yennefer has no patience for it so thankfully he’s never had to deal with that himself but _still_.

The blonde waves, clearly happy to see him and if this is Geralt’s way to ask about a threesome he needs to see some birth certificates. “Uhh,” he says, awkwardly waving back.

Its about then that Geralt thankfully appears then and Jaskier puts his hands on his hips because he has _no_ idea what this is. Geralt doesn’t make things less suspicious when he looks like he’s been caught with his hand in the cookie jar either. “Jask,” he squeaks out, looking between the blonde and Jaskier with something akin to panic on his face. Jaskier has seen him smack weapons out of hands with little more than an annoyed look on his face but some random blonde that looks _entirely_ way to young to be in anyone’s bed throws him off?

“I’m Ciri,” the blonde says seemingly to try and save Geralt.

It doesn’t seem to work because Geralt doesn’t look less panicked. He raises an eyebrow at him and Geralt sighs. “She’s um. My daughter,” he mumbles like its a hardship to admit and he’d focus on that if not for the _daughter_ thing.

“You have a _kid_?” he asks, mildly horrified. “We were on tour for… what, three hundred and six days last year and you have a _kid_? Get a job where you can spend more time with her, what are you doing following me all around?” he asks, somewhat horrified.

Its clearly not the reaction Geralt expects because he looks damn confused. “She’s fine, stays with her grandmother. Frankly you need more supervision than she does,” he adds.

“Okay, but I’m not going to be the one who resents you for spending more time than a pop star than me when I’m older so go do some other thing where you can spend time with your kid, oh my god. I can’t believe I have to write that one down for you,” he says.

Ciri looks amused by all this, “its fine, I get it. He wasn’t really around much when I was young either,” she says and Jaskier glares at Geralt.

When he doesn’t respond Jaskier glares at Geralt. “Well, _explain_.” he says.

“There were… circumstances. Calanthe didn’t mind looking after her,” Geralt says like that makes it any better and hold on a _minute_.

“Geralt, you’re thirty two, yeah?” he asks and Geralt nods, seemingly more confused and he’s got _no_ right when he’s hiding entire children that shouldn’t exist given his age and the age of this secret child he literally never mentioned before five minutes ago. “Okay, explain to me how you have a child that looks about fifteen because I had no idea you were a teen parent,” he says. “That seems maybe relevant to mention, being a teen parent.”

Ciri wrinkles her nose so he assumes he’s gotten a detail wrong. “No, she’s not… biologically mine. I um, acquired her,” he says like people just _acquire_ children.

“Geralt, that is not helping your case can you explain to me _why_ it never occurred to you to _mention_ your child?” he asks.

Geralt sighs, “Ciri wasn’t… relevant,” he says eventually.

Jaskier takes his previous assumptions of Geralt’s and Ciri’s relationship back because she doesn’t look the least bit bothered by Geralt saying she’s irrelevant. “He doesn’t mean it like that,” Ciri says, “just that my existence wasn’t relevant information to you. Until now I guess, Geralt works in mysterious ways,” she explains.

She calls him Geralt. Well, that’s interesting. He has no idea what to make of this so he sighs, “anyone want to go shopping?” he asks, his go to for solving all this problems. Except drugs, but those aren’t child friendly so he chose the easier to make family friendly version.

Geralt lets out a long sigh.

*

He hadn’t meant to say Ciri was _irrelevant_ , that’s not at all what he meant. Ciri had thankfully known that but this is why he left her to Calanthe anyway, he’s no _good_ at this. Jaskier is though- he makes fast friends with Ciri and has her laughing with him within minutes and from there on out both of them are smitten. Its nice to watch, Jaskier and Ciri chatting away over which color would look nicer on Jaskier only to ask him for advice. When he shrugs Jaskier takes it as a sign to get both shirts and by the time they go home Ciri has acquired a whole new wardrobe. Jaskier has also, but he’s already got like five wardrobes or more so that’s nothing new.

When Ciri goes off to bed, tired Geralt assumes, Jaskier climbs into his lap and sits there like he owns it. He has to admit he’s relieved Jaskier reacted so well because he’d been worried. “You didn’t mention an entire child for a _year_?” Jaskier asks and Geralt takes back him handling this well.

“Ciri… I didn’t want to drag her into this. I didn’t know how permanent it would be at the time, and when it became more obvious that I’d be sticking around my personal life wasn’t really your concern.” Now it is, obviously, and also Calanthe is on a trip. Ciri had to stay somewhere and they happen to be here for almost a month. It worked out in his favor and Ciri gets a week long vacation in another country hanging out with a pop star he knows she’s a fan of. And she’d been warned not to act like a fan so he’s more than happy to see that she kept her cool quite well. It seems there are some things she picked up from him after all.

Jaskier looks offended, “you knew all my personal business!” he says, hand to his heart offended.

Geralt rolled his eyes, “if Yen didn’t know people who knew people _everyone_ would have known your business with that princess, what’s her name? Doesn’t matter because Yen made it go away.”

“Which means?” Jaskier asks.

“It means you’re an open book, if everyone weren’t so enamored with Yen’s version of you they’d be able to see everything there is underneath without working at it.” Jaskier wears his heart on his sleeve, always has, and that’s what makes his songs so popular. They can sense that, even if they don’t seem open to looking past his cultivated image to see that authenticity they so love about him.

“So you didn’t mention a kid for a whole year and then decided I should meet her?” he asks, frowning.

“Calanthe went on a trip,” Geralt explains. Jaskier looks a little hurt and he clenches his jaw, “she’s a fan,” he says eventually. “I thought maybe- well, I didn’t- Neither of you needed that, risking an idol not living up to the image of who he is in the media and having to deal with yet another fan who doesn’t actually know anything about you acting like you’re best friends. So I didn’t mention her.”

Jaskier lets out a long sigh, “Yennefer is right, you _are_ emotionally constipated to an extreme,” he mumbles.

He frowns, “you talked to Yen?” That can’t have been good but he’ll choose to wait to say anything based on how Jaskier feels about it.

“Yeah, she said something about trusting me with my own Twitter and I can _guarantee_ she already regrets it but she mentioned you being emotionally unavailable at the time.” So she listened to him then. Jaskier is fun, quirky, a bit of a wold card- that’s what Yen built for his public image because its the easiest role for her to shove Jaskier’s actions into. There isn’t any way he’ll stray from his weird nature on social media and people feel that his Twitter account has no real life and its because if not _Jaskier_ running it.

“She’s hardly one to talk,” Geralt mumbles. “What did you post on Twitter?” he asks, changing the subject.

Jaskier takes it, happily pulling out his phone and yeah, Yen’s probably not happy with all Jaskier’s absurd jokes and bad lyric tweets but its exactly the way Jaskier would _actually_ act and it seems like people have noticed. More than one person has pointed out that the words seem much more like Jaskier than before and Geralt figured they’d notice. He does frown at the picture of himself Jaskier has posted with the hostage HotBodyguard though. “Jask, it would be easier to guard you when people _don’t_ know what I look like,” he points out.

“Oh no, they all already know you,” he says, scrolling through the comments on the thread and all of them supply a list of pictures where he’s hovering around Jaskier with comments that Jaskier has finally acknowledged him after almost a year. Its been a little more than a year, but Geralt still doesn’t like that they got the timeline almost right.

“I hate this, make them unsee it,” he says.

Jaskier laughs, “oh, this is funny. Not so easy being me, is it?” he asks, grinning at him.

No, it isn’t and Geralt would never imply that it was. “Not especially, no.”

They sit like that in silence for a few moments before Jaskier predictably needs to fill the silence. “Geralt, why don’t you spend much time with Ciri? She clearly loves you.”

He clenches his jaw, not wanting to have this discussion but he feels he’s maxed out his things he neglected to tell Jaskier for a day. “I’m not exactly parent material,” he says honestly.

It earns a soft huff out of Jaskier, “well, if you want my opinion deciding to push someone away because you think you aren’t good enough doesn’t do anyone any good, least of all the person you’re trying to protect. So stop that and spend time with her, I’ll find a way to make it work around the tour dates,” he says like Yen would let him do shit.

“That sounds like a song you’d write,” he mumbles.

Inspiration must strike because Jaskier is up and out of his lap, headed towards his bedroom at top speeds and Geralt follows just to make sure Jask doesn’t do something stupid.

*

Ciri wiggles with excitement and Geralt already knows he’s going to hate whatever comes out of her mouth. “Jaskier invited to me a concert,” she says happily. He gives her a _look_ and she huffs, “I didn’t _ask_ , obviously. I’m not a heathen,” she says. He lets out the tension in his body and relaxes some at that. “But I’m excited!” she says as soon as he relaxes, bouncing on her toes a little.

When Jaskier walks into the room looking a little worse for wear Ciri schools her face into a cool, collected expression that seems to be channeling equal parts of him and Calanthe. She looks over at him for a second and it takes a moment for him to realize she’s looking for validation. So he nods just a little, barely perceptible, but Ciri smiles wide nonetheless until she turns back to Jaskier and lets it fade a little.

“I kind of wish I was like… not a corporeal form. I feel like I would do _very_ well if I was the concept of the high G note, then I wouldn’t have to worry about picking out my clothing,” he says, pouting.

Like he’d give that up- Yen has tried and failed to get him stylists so he can stop pouting about that. “hmm,” is all he says and Jaskier lets out an exasperated sigh.

“Does he do that with you too?” Jaskier asks Ciri.

“All the time, I think he thinks talking like a cave man is communication,” she says, grinning.

“Oh _tell_ me about it, half his vocabulary is that and the other half is ‘fuck’ in various tones of voice. I swear sometimes he only knows those two words.” He shakes his head and Ciri goes on to tell him about the time Calanthe got annoyed with his lack of actual answers to her questions so she threatened to have him sleep outside if he was going to act like a troll. Jaskier finds the tale delightful and asks for another and it turns out Ciri has a lot of memories of him that he had no idea that she had. He sits back and lets them talk though, happy to observe in the background.

*

“What the hell did Jaskier do to get himself trending on Twitter?” Yen asks like this isn’t the fifth time that’s happened this week. Jaskier’s jokes are going over well with the internet crowd. She glares at Geralt like he knows what’s going on and he shrugs. “Useless,” she mumbles, tapping away at her phone before coming to what he assumes is the offending tweet.

“- _oss a coin to your witcher, oh valley of plenty, oh valley of plenty oh-_ ” Yen cuts the song off and lets out an annoyed noise.

“If that little fucker thinks he’s releasing _anything_ for free-” she starts, taking off presumably to go track Jaskier down and ream him out.

Geralt happens to know that the song likely references Jaskier’s comic world so he sighs, picking himself up to go track down Jaskier’s phone. Given the tracking its not easy, and since he’s in the studio he doesn’t need to worry about stealing it off his person. So he grabs the phone and leaves Yen to yell at Jaskier because he asked Geralt to make Yen see the value in his drawings. If his witcher song is trending he can make use of the buzz and tweet some drawings, curtesy of Jaskier’s twitter account.

He digs through a few of the drawings once he’s back at the hotel and finds a pretty one of that witcher character who he’s certain is basically him with his arm outstretched to protect the girl half standing behind his back wearing a pretty blue cloak. Ciri. He smiles at it for a moment, surprised at the nuance and detail of the drawing and how _real_ both him and Ciri look. Jaskier genuinely has talent.

So he sets the paper down and takes a picture of it, repeating the process until he has something artful enough that it could pass for something Jaskier took. He posts it and attaches the hashtag witcher to it, figuring people will draw conclusions on their own. He also arranges a few other artful shots of Jaskier’s drawings but he doesn’t caption those, letting people’s imaginations fill in the blanks.

Most of them assume correctly that Jaskier has been working on some kind of story that ties into the song he’d probably recorded in the bathroom.

By the time Jaskier and Yen get back Jask looks exhausted and Yen looks annoyed. “Oh I’m _sure_ someone must have hacked your Twitter account to tweet out your silly little drawings,” she says as they walk in, rolling her eyes. “I’m not stupid, Jaskier, don’t treat me like I am.’

“I _wasn’t_ me though, all I did was the song,” Jaskier insists.

“It was me,” Geralt says before it can go any further. “And people are excited about it.”

Yen turns her glare to him, resulting in Jaskier sagging in relief. “And why the _hell_ would you indulge this?” she asks, eyes shrewd.

“You told me to prove they’d be worth something- Jaskier’s song was already trending and now people think there’s a story to go with it. They want more. Now they’re worth something,” he says.

Yen clenches her jaw before turning back to Jaskier, “you _best_ have a coherent storyline to pitch,” she tells him, stalking off and out the door.

Jask watches her go and squeals in glee. “You did it! You convinced her I can do things!” he says excitedly.

Geralt shakes his head, “no, you did that with the witcher song. I just made use of it. Here,” he says handing back his phone.

Jaskier takes it back looking worried, “how would you have found me if I needed you?” he asks.

“You were with Yen. I trust nothing will get through her, potential immortals aside.”

It makes Jaskier laugh as he walks over and hugs Geralt. “Thank you,” he says.

Geralt shrugs, “hmm.”

*

When he gets back to the hotel he finds Jaskier on a video call with Ciri of all people and frowns. “Oh, Geralt’s back so I have to go. He’ll whine if we don’t watch America’s Next Top Model,” he lies and Geralt rolls his eyes but lets him have that.

“Thanks!” Ciri says, “bye Geralt!” she adds and then she ends the call. He raises and eyebrow and Jaskier pouts.

“Her friends didn’t believe she’d met me and the people at her school were being rude about it, I couldn’t let her continue on like that so I thought I’d call her. They all looked _plenty_ shocked so I expect they won’t call her a liar any time soon,” he says, looking pleased with himself. Geralt can’t help the smile he lets out, if a little against his will, and Jaskier beams. “I got the great Geralt Rivia to smile!” he says excitedly.

“That was a nice thing you did.” Something he didn’t have to do either, except he did because he’s a good man even if he sometimes acts like a fool.

“It was nothing. Now come here and try and deal with your crazy ex, she keeps yelling about storylines,” he says. “I never should have recorded Toss a Coin to Your Witcher.”

Geralt shakes his head and sits beside him, allowing Jaskier to press himself into his side. “You wouldn’t take that back,” he says. He wouldn’t, because people are actually excited and Yen has full control over what information comes out when. And Jaskier is happy to have something new to do, enough so that he hasn’t gotten into hard drugs in awhile and for that Geralt is grateful.

“No, I wouldn’t. Thank you,” he says. “And thanks for getting Yennefer to admit that I’m actually talented. It lasted two seconds but it was nice for all two of those seconds.”

Yeah, he’d heard Yen tell Jaskier that he’s a great talent, the kind you only find once a generation if that. Then she promptly told him if he off and ruined if for her he best not expect peace in the afterlife because she _would_ bring him back with a Ouija board just to torment him some more.

“You are a great talent,” Geralt tells him.

Jask beams in it, fight lit up brightly with happiness and its nice to see. “Thank you. Also people have figured out that your the witcher so um… if people start tossing coins at you, be prepared for that.”

“Fuck,” he mumbles, irritated with his newfound fame thanks to being attached to Jasker.

**Author's Note:**

> [My writing Tumblr](https://tenspencerriedplease.tumblr.com/)


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